Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.
Friday 23 May 2025
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a phone call with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea last night here are the details.
- Iran and U.S. meet in Rome later in the day to discuss nuclear dispute.
Israel steps up strikes across South Lebanon ahead of elections, kills one in Marjayoun: On Thursday and into the night, Israeli strikes hit Bouday (Bekaa) and several areas in South Lebanon — including Toul (Marjayoun), Reihan, Qotrani, Jbour (Jezzine), Berghoz Valley (Hasbaya), and al-Azzieh Valley, as well as the area between Shamaa and Majdel Zoun (Sour) — just two days before municipal elections. In Toul, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building and damaged nearby properties less than an hour after an evacuation warning. A drone strike earlier in the day killed one person in Marjayoun, while Israeli gunfire injured another in Wazzani. The Israeli army claimed the strikes targeted Hezbollah military infrastructure, including rocket platforms and equipment.
Overnight, additional strikes targeted prefabricated structures in Aitaroun and Chamaa (Bint Jbeil and Sour), the Aaziyeh Valley (hit three times), Jeb al-Soueid in Majdel Zoun (bombed by helicopter), and Deir Antar (Bint Jbeil), sparking fires in some areas.
Government response: Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reaffirmed Lebanon’s diplomatic efforts to end the attacks and Israeli occupation along the border. The Lebanese Army chief warned that ongoing strikes are obstructing military redeployment and the implementation of a national arms monopoly in the South, where most of Hezbollah’s infrastructure is reportedly dismantled.
Key context: Since the November cease-fire, Israeli strikes have killed over 150 people, targeting alleged Hezbollah sites across Lebanon. Coming just two days before local elections are set to take place in the South despite security threats, this latest wave of strikes adds a layer of political tension to an already volatile situation. The timing could be seen as an attempt to influence the vote by demobilizing Hezbollah’s base. While Hezbollah says it respects the truce and is open to disarmament talks, Lebanon’s foreign minister expressed skepticism, warning that the group’s stance could block international aid.
Read more: Mounir Younes’ article looks at the economic arguments underlying plotting for normalization with Israel, weighing whether such a shift would be a panacea, a palliative or a poison.
Gaza strikes kill over 50 people as aid trickles while children starve to death: Humanitarian workers in Gaza yesterday received their first food shipments since March while bombardments across the coastal territory killed over 50 people and the enclave’s health minister, as quoted by al-Jazeera, said 29 children and elderly people were killed by the Israeli-imposed starvation. Israeli ground troops present across more than half of Gaza’s territory and expanding their invasion since the start of Israel’s push to capture the enclave last Saturday, ordered the evacuation of 14 neighborhoods in the territory’s north.
Key context: Israel’s escalated attacks have killed hundreds of people in the past five days, raising a death toll surpassing 3,000 people since the Israeli return to war on March 18, weeks after blockading the enclave, in an effort to impose additional truce terms on Hamas. Israel’s demands for a long-term truce include Hamas’ disarmament and exile, both of which the group refuses.
BDL promotes cooperation with auditors and foreign law firms: Banque du Liban (BDL) yesterday announced its cooperation with foreign law firms to pursue internal corruption and its delivery of documents allowing Alvarez and Marsal to continue an audit of the central bank.
Key context: Former BDL governor Riad Salameh is currently in custody over alleged financial misdealings between the central bank and brokerage firm Optimum Invest while facing, alongside his suspected co-conspirators including his brother, former paramour and former assistant, other accusations of public funds embezzlement, extending to several European jurisdictions in which he allegedly accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of assets with the purportedly siphoned funds. Alvarez and Marsal’s preliminary findings, according to a 2023 report, point to exorbitant overspending and misvaluation, seemingly camouflaging financial losses. The audit had initially been delayed due to BDL withholding documents it claimed were protected by banking secrecy.
- Benjamin Netanyahu has sparked outrage by appointing a new Shin Bet chief in defiance of the judiciary.
- The Internal Security Forces arrested a 17-year-old theme park employee for alleged sexual misconduct towards elementary school children visiting the venue.
- Bekaa MP Yassin Yassin filed a lawsuit accusing a group of young men for assaulting and threatening him following an incident thought to be related to his stance on last week’s municipal elections in the region.
- On the second day of his Lebanon visit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. The visit centers on disarming Palestinian camps, as Beirut pushes to assert full state authority. After talks with President Joseph Aoun, both leaders declared “the era of weapons outside state control is over,” without outlining specific steps.
Can Lebanese banks benefit from the lifting of sanctions in Syria?
The lifting of U.S. Caesar Act sanctions could allow Syria to rejoin systems like SWIFT, opening the door for Lebanese banks to resume cross-border transfers and revive struggling operations. Fouad Gemayel explains.
How U.S. tech giants fuel Israel's wars (and pretend not to know about it)
Amelia Hankins looks at the policy and legal position of U.S. tech giants accumulating billions of dollars by supplying the digital infrastructure that empowered the scale of death and destruction in Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon.
Before you go...
💌 Have a suggestion, feedback, or a kind word ? You can write to us at this address: editor@lorientlejour.com